Carmel Revisited

Overlooking Victoria BayAscend the Fern Trail path
Collecting wood for the fire
Twigs trampled over days
Mimosa felled
To become faggots
For a winter’s blaze.
 
Arrive at the garden summit
Stones left over from the past
Carcases skeletoned
As beasts sacrificed
To become mineralised ash
Now scattered.
 
Look beyond the horizon
Into the future’s past
To see a clouded breeze
Gathering speed
To become the refreshing shower
Of memories.
 
Expect the divine presenceOn Fern Trail
To speak again with clarity
Quake, wind and fireless
Quietly
To become the still small voice
Of promise.
 
Assemble round the hearth
Sharing news of experienced grace
With growing surprise and laughter
As we realize
We have become a people
Shaped by encounter.
 
23/10/08
 
Written after returning to Carmel, South Africa, 50 years after hearing God’s call to cross-cultural ministry during an Easter Camp. There are allusions to Elijah experiences on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18: 16 ff) and Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:10 ff)

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